Thursday, March 5, 2015

It infects us with its racism

Guest: Jennifer Pacanowski, Iraq veteran, writer, and poet speaks with us about PTSD, her work with vets and their families, and her desire to teach Americans the true cost of war.

Jennifer is a true spokesperson for the truth. I liked her analysis of the racism of war. She said that to fight, you have to separate yourself from another people and learn to hate them. She thought this type of racism came home with returning vets, and was responsible for much of the violence directed at people of color in this country.

Of course, many vets came back to take jobs in the nation's police departments, where they quickly adjusted their "us against them mentality" to abusing minority groups.

The American Empire can only exist if the vast majority of our nation's citizens are unaware of the price they pay for endless wars. Our returning vets bring the truth home, that killing millions in wars of conquest and occupation abroad eventually creates militarism and racism at home.

"We the people of mainland France, have only one lesson to draw from these facts: colonialism is in the process of destroying itself. But it still fouls the atmosphere. Is is our shame; it mocks our laws or caricatures them. It infects us with its racism..." -Jean-Paul Sartre

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CLASS WARS BLOG

Class Wars Blog is an inside look at the production of Activist Radio: what went right, what went wrong, and what got left out. In fact, we plan to post just about anything we feel is interesting, including listeners' comments.